Photographic developing apparatus



J. S. GREENE.

PHOTOGRAPHIC DEVELOPING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION men JUNE 11. I919- Patented June 14, 1921- WITNESSES" J. S. GREENE. PHOTOGRAPHIC DEVELOPING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE I7. 1919.

Patented June 14, 1921.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2- INVENTOR firieize TTORNE Y5 UNITED, STATES,

PATENT OFFICE.

i S. GREENE, or nocnnsrnra', new YORK, ASSIGNOR TO rnorosrnr CORPORA- Tron, or PROVIDENCE, anonn ISLAND, A CORPORATION or nnonn ISLAND.

rno'roermrnrc DEVELOPING ArrAnArUs.

Application filed June'17,

To all to hem it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN S. GREENE, of Rochester, in thecounty of Monroe and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Photpgraphic Developing Apparatus; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this speclfication, and to the reference numerals marked thereon. a

My present invention relates to photography and more particularly to photographic developing apparatus and 1t hasfor its object to provide a simple and efficient means for handling and conveying photographic printsas delivered to the developingapparatus from the camera or e rposing apparatus. Theinvention 18 particularly applicable to the commercial type of camera in which a positive imageis taken directly upon sensitive paper, successlve lengths of which are reeled through the camera and passed directly through developing and washing mediums after whrch they are delivered ready'for use except for drying. My improvements are chrected in part toward a device that w1ll submerge as wellas convey the print and which 1s susceptible of operation in a dark chamber without attention to give uniformly efiicient service. To these and other ends the invention resides in certain improvements and combinations of parts, all as will be hereine after more fully described, the novel features being pointedout 1n the claims at the end of the specification.

Figure 1 is a side view, partly in section, of a developing apparatus constructed in ac cord'ance with and illustrating one embodiment of my invention, an exposing camera associated therewith being also shown in section in a fragmentary way;

i Fig. 2 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view of the print conveyer,the section being taken through the tanks and ronveyers 1n the plane of an inside wall thereof;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged top view of the conveying portion of the apparatus, the rest being. broken away; y

Fig. 4 is an enlarged section through one of the conveyer sprockets, in detail, and

Fig. 5 is a side view of the machine show Specification of Letters Patent. Pate t d June 14, 1921 1919. Serial No. 304,789.

ing a fragmentary elevation of the driving mechanism.

Similar reference numerals throu 'hout the several views indicate the same pa i ts.

The exposing camera and the general arrangement of the developing apparatus is of a construction well known in the commercial art and referring to Fig. l, 1 indicates the exposing chamber of the'cainera and the focal plane thereof alongwhich a continuous strip of sensitive paper is fed from a roll 3 downwardly between feed rollers 4; and 5 operated by a crank 6, shown in dotted lines, or otherwise. Sometimes the stripis severed into the respective 6X* posure areas immediately upon passing the feed rollers, but in the present showing, it 1s intended to expose and develop the strip by lntermittent feeding in a continuous length.

lifter passing the feed rollers 1 and 5, the strip passes into a liquid container or'tray 7, the front end of which is arranged beneath the camera and which contains the developer at a surface level indicated at' 8 1n Flg. 2 and in so passing into the container or developing-tank, the strip is directed rearwardly in the direction of its natural curl'by a curved guide 9 and kept from rising to the surface by a submerging guide 10 formed of a grating of longitudinal bars located'below the surface level 8.

Near its rear end the developing tank or container 7 is spanned by a shaft 11 having bearings in its side walls and carrying sprocket Wheels 12 that cut the plane of the guide 10 to project below it but clear of the formed in continuation of the guide 9 and terminating at the rear in an inclined runway 15 ending at a tangentially arranged roller 16 at the brim of the tank. A second transverse. shaft 17 with similar sprockets 18 is arranged in an elevated position at this point and extending between and driven by'the respective units of these two pairs of sprockets 12 and 18 is an endless conveyor indicated generally at C and composed of flexibly connected links 19 carrying successive non-abrasive frictional contact members 20. As shown in Fig. 4:, I prefer to use a bar link terminating in relatively transverse eyes 21 for attachment to each other and carrying a surrounding cylinder of soft rubber :20, the cylinder being of such diameter as to prevent the link from contacting with the same surface as its contact member. Both sets of sprockets 12 and 18 are positively driven as hereinafter explained but the conveyer C is so looped between them that the upper stretch thereof, traveling in the direction of the arrow, is taut while the lower stretch, traveling in the opposite direction or rearwardly, is slack and its weight is rested upon the tank bottom 11 and the runway 15, to both of which it conforms.

In preparing the machine, the print strip P as received from the feed rollers 1 and 5 is fed under the submerging guide 10 and threaded beneath the conveyors C the sprockets of which are driven at a rate in harmony with the rate of feed at the feed rollers. The conveyors then frictionally engage the print strip, resting against the same by gravity, and keep it traveling rearwardly without placing any strain thereon and while holding it submerged in the developing solution. To these ends, I prefer to make the links 19 of metal and fairly stout so as to have appreciable weight when submerged.

In rear. of the developing tank 7 is a hypo-tank 22 which is shown, in the present instance, as shorter than the developing tank 7 but which is otherwise fitted in substantially the same way, including a guide 9, tracking surface 14, runway 15 and roller 16. It is also provided with sprocket shafts 11 and 17 but the former is elevated because of the shorter length of the tank and to bring its sprockets 12' close to the sprockets 18 so that the lower stretch of the conveyers C Will run in substantial con tinuation of the respective conveyers C. The continuous paper strip is thus fed through the developer up the incline 15, over the roller 16 and into the hypo-tank from which it finally emerges at the roller 16 for washing, drying or such other treatments as may be required.

I prefer to drive positively all of the sprocket shafts and also the rollers 16 and 16 and to time them properly with the initial feeding rollers 4 5, I run a sprocket chain 23 from the roller 1 to a sprocket 2-1 on the first sprocket shaft 11. Another sprocket 25 on the said shaft and a sprocket chain 26 drives shaft 17 through a sprocket 27 thereon, while the sprocket 28 on shaft 11, through a sprocket chain 29, communicates motion through a sprocket 30 to shaft 11. A second sprocket 32 on shaft 11 chives sprocket chain 31 over a sprocket 83 on shaft 17 As shown in Fig. 5, gears 34 and 35 on shafts 17 and 17, respectively, drive gears 36 and 37 on the shafts of rollers 16 and 16, respectively. It may in some cases be desirable to gear sprockets 12 and 18' so that they run a little faster than sprockets 12 and 18 so that there will be no danger of the print crumpling or looping as it passes from conveyors C to conveyers C.

Unless operated in "a dark room, both tanks and the conveying mechanism described will be suitably housed in a lighttight casing communicating with the camera casing, but it has not been deemed necessary to show this provision herein as it is commonly employed in the art.

1 claim as my invention:

1. The combination with a supporting element having a surface over which photographic prints are adapted to slide, and driving gear, of a flexible conveyer operated by the latter to traverse the surface and composed of successive non-abrasive contact members adapted to frictionally engage the print.

2. The combination with a supporting element having a surface over which photographic prints are adapted to slide, and driving gear, of a flexible conveyer operated by the latter to traverse the surface and composed of a core of heavy material carrying successive nonabrasive contact members adapted to be pressed by gravity against the print and to frictionally engage it.

3. The combination with a supporting element having a surface over which photographic prints are adapted to slide, of a flexible endless conveyor having a slack stretch adapted to traverse said surface in gravity contact therewith, sprockets arranged above said surface and operating to engage and drive said slack stretch of the conveyor, the conveyer being composed of successive non-abrasive contact members adapted to frictionally engage the print and propel it along the surface.

The combination with a photographic developing fluid receptacle having a smooth bottom terminating in an inclined runway over the surfaces of which bottom and runway photographic prints are adapted to slide and be finally delivered from the receptacle, of a flexible endless conveyor having a slack stretchadapted to traverse said su aces in gravity contact therewith, sprockets arranged above said surfaces and operating to engage and drive said slack stretch of the conveyer, the conveyor being composed of successive non-abrasive contact members daptcd to frictionally engage the print and propel it along the surface. 1

The combination with a liquid container having at its bottom a smooth supporting surface over which photographic prints are adapted to slide, and driving gear, of a flexible conveyer operated by the latter to traverseithe surface and composed of a core of heavy material adapted to submerge the print, said core carrying successive nonabrasive contact members adapted to be pressed by gravity against the print and to frictionally engage and. propel it.

6. The combination With a supporting element having a surface over which photographic prints are adapted to slide, and driving gear, of a flexible conveyer operated by the latter to traverse the surface and composed of successive nonabrasive contact members adapted to frictionally engage the print, said contact members being individually carried by the linksof a metal chain.

7. The combination with a liquid. container having at its bottom-a smooth supporting surface over which photographic prints are adapted to slide, and driving gear, of a flexible conveyer operated by the latter to traverse the surface and composed of a chain having bar links terminating in loops or eyes by Which they are connected together and successive non-abrasive contact members surrounding the bars and of greater diameter than the chain, said members being adapted to be pressed by gravity against the print and to frictionally engage and propel it.

JOHN s. GREENE. 

